Technical Field
The present disclosure generally pertains to testing and certifying physical parameters of communication links, as well as systems configured for certifying the physical parameters of cabling and equipment providing communication links.
Description of the Related Art
Communication channels in various types of networks employ a variety of physical media for transmission of signals, including metal wiring, fiber optic cables, and wireless links. While communication protocols and architectures are significant, equally important is the physical layer, e.g., Layer 1 of the 7-Layer OSI model, of networks and the cabling that support it.
Fiber optic cables, for example, provide a low loss medium for transmission of data at high speeds. Ongoing expansion of data traffic over computer network communication links is often accompanied by higher expectations of reliability. It is therefore important that installations providing communication links, including optical fiber cabling, be tested and certified to assure that the links were properly installed and that the communication channels provided by the links will achieve expected physical reliability and performance measures.
In regard to fiber optic cabling, high performance local area networks (LANs) such as Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet permit less loss in optical fiber cabling than older networks, and even higher performance networks, such as 40/100 Gigabit Ethernet, continue to drive higher performance requirements. In newer applications, devices drive signals over optical fiber using lasers (e.g., vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, for example) that inject light in a much smaller area of the fiber compared with older light emitting diode (LED) drivers. Accordingly, certification of the physical integrity of fiber optic links, including connectors and splices, is increasingly important.